Saturday, September 17, 2016

Five years $ 10.7M grant to study the control, prevention of sexually transmitted infections

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Five years $ 10.7M grant to study the control, prevention of sexually transmitted infections -

The University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UM SOD) and medicine (UM SOM) jointly announced today that they have received $ 10.7 million a grant of five years from the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of health for study the causes, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The grant, which renews a previous $ 12 million five-year program funded by NIAID research, represents a new direction for research student chlamydia and gonococcal disease as the result of complex interactions between genetics of the host, microbiome polymicrobial urogenital, and pathogen unique genetic. By applying the technology of "omics" modern, the study aims to identify new "biomarkers" molecular susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which followed the severity of the disease, and vice versa protection against STIs and STDs. The biomarkers can be measured in the body (or its products) as a means to predict and potentially influence the pathways related to disease. They can reveal mechanisms of infection or illness that can be exploited as therapeutic targets or diagnostic

The long-term goal of the research is to develop strategies and ways to reduce the incidence of STIs and STDs worldwide -. Especially chlamydia (caused by Chlamydia trachomatis) and gonorrhea (caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, also known as gonorrhea). Genital chlamydial infections are bacterial infectious disease most common in America, with 2.8 million cases estimated each year. Gonorrhea is estimated at 820,000 infections each year in America. These infections cause most all 750,000 cases of pelvic inflammatory disease seen each year in the United States. Pelvic inflammatory disease, in turn, is a major cause of female infertility and life-threatening conditions in women such as ectopic pregnancy.

"This grant is particularly important because it is the first time that the global systems biology (or" multi-omics ") approach will be used to conduct research on STDs with the ultimate aim to develop knowledge to predict, diagnose, prevent and treat sexually transmitted infections and diseases, "said Jacques Ravel, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and associate genomics Director at the Institute for genome sciences (IGS) at the UM SOM, which is the co-principal investigator of the study. "Looking at how human genetics and the microbiome affect and influence infections in humans, we can get a much better understanding of how to protect against these types of infection, which is essential for improving health public. "

"We believe that this project will generate new basic knowledge about the mechanisms of sexually transmitted infection and disease as they arise, as in the human host and microbes that cause chlamydia and gonorrhea, "says co-principal investigator Patrik Bavoil, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of microbial pathogenesis at the UM SOD." we will identify the human microbial biomarkers that will tell us who is most susceptible to infection which is most susceptible to serious illness, even in the absence of symptoms, "says Dr. Bavoil, who is also assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and immunology at the UM SOM. "These biomarkers could also provide new targets for new ways to prevent and treat STIs and STDs long before these microbes have a chance to endanger the reproductive health of a woman."

establishes a new grant of five national collaborative research centers on sexually transmitted infections (STI-CRC), which will be run jointly by SOD UM and UM SOM, implement three projects:

1 project will explore the role of human genetic variance to dictate the outcome of the "dialogue" between the pathogen and the host microbiota in both experimental infections and patient samples. The underlying assumption of this project is that the host genetics plays an important role in determining susceptibility to STIs and following the severity of the disease. This project will be led by Drs. Raphael Valdivia Dennis Ko, both at Duke University.

Project 2, which will be co-led by Drs. Bavoil and Garry Myers, Ph.D., associate professor at Sydney University of Technology, Australia, aims to identify antibodies and biomarkers of chlamydia based miRNA, chlamydia / gonorrhea and co-infection pelvic inflammatory disease with particular emphasis on the potential for translating these biomarkers in clinical and public health.

3 project, which will be led by Dr. Ravel, employ a biological systems approach to identify biomarkers vaginal and penile microbiomes, genetic variation of host and pathogens that are associated with increased or decreased risk of infection by chlamydia, gonorrhea or both.

These projects will be based on a strong clinical core, which will establish an ITS Groups Network (STING), consisting of several networks of sexual partners where at least one partner is infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea. The clinic downtown core will involve Drs. Katrina Mark, MD, SOM UM Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Brotman Rebecca, assistant professor of SOM UM Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and the IGS. Participants at STING will provide clinical samples, the researchers from the University of Maryland and partner institutions will examine and analyze using advanced genomic, genetic and immunological techniques, trying to identify molecular biomarkers could help predict who is at risk for STIs and is less likely to be infected, the genetic basis of own subject, his / her genital microbiome composition and function, and the unique genome of the pathogen. Scientists hope to use the identified biomarkers to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for STIs. The projects will be supported by a core genomics led by Dr. Ravel, who will build the capacity of the Resource Centre in genomics and the IT Resource Center at IGS state-of-the-art. Additional expertise will be provided by ITS biomathematician Dr David Wilson, the Kirby Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, gonorrhea expert Dr. Alison Criss, University of Virginia, network analysis epidemiologist Dr. David Shoham, Loyola University Chicago and immunologist Dr. Khalil Ghanem of Johns Hopkins University.

The program is based at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, a leading institution in the study of infectious diseases with particular strengths in bacterial pathogenesis, vaccine development, human virology and genomics microbial.

Mark Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, professor and newly appointed Dean of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry commented "This grant highlights the, mutually beneficial cooperative relations between ever increasing UM UM SOM and SOD on multiple fronts interdisciplinary research "he adds." Our school is committed to the concept of global health, and this project on sexually transmitted infections, which are particularly relevant to oral health -dentaire, is an important aspect of our research activities and an essential component of the education portfolio of modern oral health practitioner. "

" This new grant from the NIH NIAID is a clear indication quality research and leadership at UM SOM in the study of infectious diseases, "says E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, vice president of medical affairs at the University of Maryland and John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers distinguished Professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "Our application of genomics and large scale bioinformatics approaches to investigate the prevention and treatment of STIs really represents the future of biomedical research."


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